Valve, Epic and Id Software trigger Kickstarter craze for VR headset

A new Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift - "the first truly immersive virtual reality headset for video games" - has smashed its target on a single day.

Is this the future of gaming? Designer Palmer Luckey needed $250,000 to get the dev kits of the Oculus Rift off the ground and in the hands of game developers and in turn on the heads of gamers. At the time of writing, Luckey has already surpassed $750,000 in pledges.

As seen in the video on the Kickstarter page, Luckey has gained support from high profile games developers, including Id Software's John Carmack (Doom 3 will be the first Oculus compatible game), Valve's Gabe Newell and Epic's Cliff Bleszinski, among others.

The Oculus Rift will have a diagonal field of view of 110°, a 3D panoramic view, and will be the first headset of its kind that lets the gamer feel like they are truly stepping into the game.

The Kickstarter page warns that "the consumer version of the Rift is still a ways down the road," but the sooner developers can start working with it, the sooner it will be a part of every gamers arsenal.

The team is already working hard to make Doom 3: The BFG Edition the first Oculus ready game, and Luckey promises when the consumer version is ready it will be "even more impressive, all without increasing price or sacrificing an ounce of quality."